crime fiction word of mouth Deep Water Peter Corris D it was, at that time his is Corris’s latest book featuring Sydney-based P Cliff Hardy. When I was a uni I started reading the early Cliff Hardy books, and tim , a revelation to have a PI at T fast-paced gumshoe story set in the familiar streets (and back lanes) of my hometown. So it was a little disappointing to find that this one begins in LA – but don’t worry, we’re back in Sydney soon enough while Hardy investigates the disappearance of a geologist working for a dodgy company. Corris is a great storyteller, and Hardy has aged remarkably well – I like the fact that he has in fact matured The Chalk Circle Man Fred Vargas Smith and Stieg Larsson, n whom I have total faith as soon as I read the first ine of their books. It’s a wonderful feeling. From T S the first line of The Chalk Circle Man I felt this way, and when Vargas introduced me to her hero, Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, I knew my belief was not misplaced. Adamsberg has a peculiar insight into the minds of people, an insight that shows itself as a feeling rather than a deduction. In fact, he is unable to think linearly at all. He relies on his highly intelligent, albeit dipsomaniac, superintendent to do his critical thinking ar Jo I th th a Cry John Harvey haven’t read much of John Harvey’s writing in the past and, having just fin writer. This is compelling reading. The prose is descriptive and atmospheric, the plot is tight, suspenseful and complex and the characters are believable. Far Cry deals with a difficult and sensitive theme, the loss of a child. In 1995, Ruth and Simon Pierce’s daughter disappeared while on a camping holiday here are some writers, like Alexander McCall physically and emotionally, unlike, say, Robert B Parker’s Spenser, who merely talks about being older, instead of feeling it. He is negotiating his relationship with his daughter as well as coping with having his PI license revoked, and finding that it’s hard to give up old habits. I found the central premise of skulduggery over Sydney’s water supply not quite convincing and I would have liked more science to back it up, but I read Corris for the characters and the sense of authenticity, and this book has those. You don’t need to have read earlier books – the novel is still accessible to those unfamiliar with Hardy’s earlier adventures, and the fans will enjoy it, as I did. ★★★ Allen & Unwin $22.99 Reviewed by Pamela Freeman when his instinct fails him (rarely) or when it only leads him so far (often). In the beginning of this novel, all of Paris is talking about an eccentric, mysterious character who has been drawing two-metre circles on footpaths all over the city at night, and placing various objects in them. Most of the city thinks he’s a harmless crackpot, but Adamsberg has a bad feeling – a feeling justified when one morning a dead woman is found in one of the circles. This book is enthralling in a very French way. It’s quite a simple mystery but solved by utterly loveable characters and peppered with philosophy, white wine, cigarettes and multiple lovers. It won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger award (Vargas’s third win) and it’s easy to see why. ★★★★★ Harvill/Secker $32.95 Reviewed by Sarah Minns with her best friend’s family. DI Will Grayson and his partner DS Helen Walker become involved when some years later, Ruth’s daughter from a second marriage also disappears. At the same time Grayson becomes finished Far Cry, I realise that I have been missing the talents of a really skilled w obsessed with a convicted paedophile who has just been released from prison. Grayson is convinced he may also be a killer and takes up a one-man surveillance operation. Harvey weaves these two plots together in a masterly fashion at the same time examining how these cases affect Grayson’s relationship with his own wife and two children. Far Cry is a great read from this award-winning author. ★★★★ Heinemann $32.95 Reviewed by Linda George SEPTEMBER 2009 ı goodreading 37 Revisiting a classic The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie I n the year 2000, Agatha Christie’s grandson Matthew Pritchard freed up the film and television rights so that Christie’s works could be given modern-day treatment. You can, however, still read Christie’s novels in their original form. Her very first book was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written during the First World War, initially published in 1921, and now reissued by HarperCollins. Captain Hastings, the narrator, has been invalided home from the European fields of slaughter when he meets a former friend, John Cavendish, and is invited to convalesce at Styles Court, the Cavendish country home. Very soon, Ms Christie produces a corpse, suspects, and multiple motives. But, never fear, it just happens that Hercule Poirot is living in the village, within walking distance of the Manor House. We are all capable of killing given the right circumstances, and Poirot uses his ‘little grey cells’ to discover who is lying, who is boiling with rage under a polite façade, and who is guilty of murder. This skilful and entertaining mystery has everything: intrigue, intelligence, and the classic drawing-room denouement. An auspicious debut by a writer destined to become Britain’s Queen of Crime. ★★★★ HarperCollins $16.99 Reviewed by Clive Hodges